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MANILLA. 
The old bath-house is a singular-looking place, being built on the 
hill-side, in the old Spanish style, with large balconies, that are en¬ 
closed in the manner already described, in speaking of the houses in 
Manilla. It is beautifully situated, and overlooks the baths and lake. 
The baths are of stone, and consist of two large rooms, in each of 
which is a niche, through which the hot water passes. This building 
is now in ruins, the roof and floors having fallen in. 
Banos is a small village, but contains a respectable-looking stone 
church, and two or three houses of the same material. Here the 
party found a difficulty in getting on, for the alcalde could not speak 
Spanish, and they were obliged to use an interpreter, in order to com¬ 
municate with him. Notwithstanding this, he is a magistrate, whose 
duty it is to administer laws written in that language. Finding they 
could not succeed even here in procuring guides or horses, they deter¬ 
mined to remain and explore Mount Maquiling, the height of which is 
three thousand four hundred and fifty feet, and in the mean time to 
send for their bancas. 
The next day they set out on their journey to that mountain, and 
the first part of their path lay over a gentle ascent, through cultivated 
grounds. Next succeeded an almost perpendicular hill, bare of trees, 
and overgrown with a tall grass, which it was difficult to pass 
through. 
Such had been the time taken up, that the party found it impossible 
to reach the summit and return before dark. They therefore began to 
collect specimens; and after having obtained a full load, they returned 
late in the afternoon to Banos. 
The mountain is composed of trachytic rocks and tufa, which are 
occasionally seen to break through the rich and deep soil, showing 
themselves here and there, in the deep valleys which former volcanic 
action has created, and which have destroyed the regular oulline of the 
cone-shaped mountain. The tufa is generally found to form the gently- 
sloping plains that surround these mountains, and has in all probability 
been ejected from them. Small craters, of some two hundred feet in 
height, are scattered over the plains. The tufa is likewise exposed to 
view on the shores of the lake; but elsewhere, except on a few bare 
hills, it is entirely covered with the dense and luxuriant foliage. The 
tufa is generally of a soft character, crumbling in the fingers, and in it 
are found coarse and fine fragments of scoria, pumice, &c. The layers 
are from a few inches to five feet in thickness. 
In the country around Banos, there are several volcanic hills, and on 
the sides of Mount Maquiling are appearances of parasitic cones, 
similar to those observed at the Hawaiian Islands; but time and the 
